I originally began the blog Something Swanky as a way to promote my home based Cupcake catering business. It was just supposed to be a website showcasing different flavors and styles of cupcakes. It wasn’t long before my interest in catering began to wane, and my interest in blogging took it’s place. I branched out beyond cupcakes to all sorts of desserts. As I became more engrossed in blogging and the blogging community, a love for DIY blog design emerged, and that’s when the designs part of “desserts & designs” came into play. Check out some of my blog design tutorials if you’re the DIY-type. And if you’re not so much, visit my Etsy shop, and I’d be happy to create a design for you!
Here’s a little about me…
My favorite Recipes on Something Swanky:
- Pretzel M&M and Rolo Cookies
- Pumpkin Pie Fudge with Nutella and Mashmallow Swirl
- Black and White Donuts
- Nutella Almond Muddy Buddies
- Pumpkin Caramel Heath Bars
- Fluffer Nutter Oatmeal Cookies
- Nutella Kiss Cookies
- Best Hot Fudge Sauce and Sundae Cakes
- 0 Points+ Summer Smoothie
- Nutter Butter S’mores Ice Cream
- PB & J Pancakes
- Lemon Meringue Pie Dip
- Berger Cookies Copycat
Some of my other favorite things:
- my family
- the color pink
- diet dr. pepper
- my pandora charm bracelet
- chick-fil-a (specifically the #1, the #7)
- FRIENDS, White Collar, Psych, and DWTS
- BYU/Provo
- marshmallow cream
- my Nikon DSLR
- courier new, the font
- Toms
- blogging
- tex-mex
- all things NC (except UNC)
- Jane Austen
Some of my least favorite things:
- cartoons made for adults
- raisins
- wildlife and most things outside
- under-ripe bananas
- doing the dishes
- slow internet
- the cost of airfare
- regular sodas
- the bad guy in Mulan
- people who copy entire recipes into their pin descriptions (bad!)
- unfulfilling movie endings
- Kristen Stewart
- long nails
- over-tired toddlers
- babysitting kids I don’t know
FAQ:
- Why do you put so much effort into blogging? Because I love it. It’s fun, it’s liberating, and it makes me feel good about myself.
- What do you do with all of those desserts? There are some that I eat entirely by myself. Seriously. But the vast majority go to my husband’s work and to the neighbors. I’ve also learned how to scale a recipe down to just three or four servings– enough to photograph for the blog, but not so much they take over the house!
- Photography advice? I know it’s expensive, but at some point plan on investing in a nice camera if blogging is something you want to be really serious about. My husband and I pooled our Christmas budget plus both sets of our parents’ Christmas budgets one year to buy our camera (a Nikon D3000). Until you can afford a nice camera, start digging around the internet for photography tips and tutorials– there are tons of resources out there for taking and editing photos to a high quality (even when using a point-and-shoot).
- Did you do your design yourself? Yes!! And you can too. Seriously. You can! Check out my design tutorials for a little start-up help.
- What’s your favorite food? All of it. No, seriously. But if I had to narrow it down… massaman, Coney’s cheeseburgers, all things chick fil a, goodberry’s frozen custard, bojangles biscuits, the veggie burrito from Mountain West in provo, grilled cheese with homemade bread, my dad’s chilli, guacamole, and fried chicken and waffles.
- So what’s your favorite dessert? At the moment, fudge made with Hershey Kisses. Specifically, pumpkin fudge.
- How come you don’t weigh a million pounds? Most of you who ask this have never met me in person– so you don’t really know that I’m not just posting strategically photographed pictures of myself! But really, I’m not a million pounds. I fight the weight, for sure– but in addition to (grudgingly) daily exercise, I’m a repeat offending Weight Watcher and am constantly converting my favorite treats into healthier versions. I’m working on adding a “lightened up” version for most of my desserts! Look out for the “Lighten Up” button in my posts!
- Are all the recipes on here your own? A lot of them are. I always source my inspiration or recipe source if they’re not! If I come up with something way out of left field, you can bet that it was the only thing left in my pantry and that it’s 11:00pm at night with no blog post planned for the next morning. It’s a frequent occurrence.
- Why the name Something Swanky? It has nothing to do with desserts– I know. Part of it comes from my own name, but I also chose it because I’m a firm believer that everything can and should be pretty– desserts and designs included! I like to make sure that all of my “somethings” are a little “swanky.”
- Any advice for newbie bloggers? If you’re looking to be successful, be successful intentionally. I know, that sounds like a Jillian Michaels line– but let me explain. Over and over again, I see bloggers who say, “Oh, I’m not blogging for the money, or to gain followers, or whatever… I’m just blogging because I love to cook/craft/write book reviews/etc.” And yet, they’re confused as to why they only have 15 followers (their immediate family and friends) and 58 pageviews/day. If you want your blog to gain followers and see an increase in page views, you have to go out and get that traffic by networking and being active in blogging communities (especially link parties). If some aspect of “being involved” is confusing to you, reach out to other bloggers until you figure it out. In most cases, I don’t believe that successful blogs can happen on accident. So if it matters to you– put some time and effort in, and do it on purpose!
